General Motors will continue paying its penance following last year’s massive ignition switch recall that affected 30 million units of older vehicles while being linked to the death of at least 104 drivers.
According to The Detroit News, the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA) and General Motors have agreed on terms to extend NHTSA’s oversight period for another year. This requires General Motors to meet with NHTSA government officials once a month and to disclose any and every safety-related issue found in a new vehicle for NHTSA’s analysis.
The extension of the decree also means that General Motors must disclose to NHTSA any possible safety concerns related to its vehicles immediately, including vehicles in early stages of safety investigations by GM. The automaker also must disclose new technical service bulletins or other dealer communications, any decision making associated with safety-related or high-frequency warranty claims or safety-related field reports, and other potential safety defects.
In 2014, GM paid a record $35 million civil penalty for delaying a recall of 2.6 million older vehicles for ignition switch defects that are now linked to at least 104 deaths and more than 175 injuries.
The NHTSA may extend the oversight period to 2017, as it sees fit. But the administration told GM North America General Counsel, Lucy Clark Dougherty, that it was not extending the oversight period due to poor performance on GM’s part.
“GM learned a hard lesson last year,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a statement late Thursday. “We expect to see the improvements they’ve made continue and that their new approaches are applied to every GM safety issue and every recall. Today’s action will help keep them on the right track.”
In the aftermath of the ignition switch recall, GM CEO Mary Barra has been praised for reorganizing its safety organization, hiring dozens of new safety engineers, and making it a top priority for the automaker. She also fired 15 and disciplined 5 employees related to passing the ignition switch off as safe.
Comments
Guess they’ll have to wait until the Justice Department gets done with GM. Happy Memorial Day!
If GM misrepresented their knowledge of ignition problems (and who knows what else) as a means to get a corporate bailout,
wouldn’t that render their bankruptcy null and void?
I thought perjury – lying under oath and misrepresenting material facts – would bring the Old GM/New GM charade back under scrutiny …
To be honest they are doing GM a favor as they can remain like this and prove there are no more hidden issues.
This to be honest is in GM’s favor.
The only real issues they have now is the air bag deal issue that everyone else has right now. The only cars they have effected are the ones built by Toyota like the Vibe or other Asian company.
GM is clear and will settle with the legit and even many of the non legit cases and things will move on.
By the way where were you guys when Ford and Toyota had even larger issues than this? I hope you are fair in your assessments. This was far from the first automaker to have an issue nor was it the largest.
What about Jeep and the fires they are having?
Firing 15 people to solve the problem is sorta like claiming only 13 people died in ignition switch – gate … Likely that 10x as many people knew about this. Including the now-CEO (wasn’t she in charge of product at the time?)
And if the old GM/new GM arrangement was based on lies, I don’t know how the courts can uphold the bk agreement.
Not defending Ford or Toyota, but GM’s playing in Criminal territory now, not just Civil. Then again, they’ll probably get off like the banks do – pay a huge fine and move on.
Prove it!
If you really had any clue to how GM was so dysfunctional you would understand how this could happen. Pre 20008 Malibu panel gaps were the size of my thumb and you want to know why? Because no one told them to fit it till Bob Lutz came along. How much did it cost. $250,000.
A bearing MFG told someone GM was his best customer. Why? Because he could sell them the same bearing under 5 different part numbers at five different prices.
But before you go too far here you had better get your collective S*#T together as you are getting into things you really have no clue about.
Second of the 13 you speak of 8 of them wore no seat belts. 3 were drunk and one was on drugs. One had a medical issue and 3 were over the speed limit 2-3 times the limit.
Air bag or not most of them would be dead anyways due to their actions or lack of actions to due fully protect themselves. The Belt is a first line of protection and the bags is a secondary.
They made a cheap ignition and in GM that is something a handful of employees could hide in the old GM. They had a culture that the left hand most of the time did not know what the right hand was doing and the quality of their cars of the era and the inter division rivalry is also proof that they did more damage to themselves than Toyota or Ford.
Read the Book Bean Counters Vs. Car Guys and you will get a perspective of how bad things were. Also read Deloreans book On A Clear Day You Can See GM and you will find this damaged culture was nothing new.
I am a GM fan but I will call them when they screw up and they did Screw up here but no to the hysterical level that you that some of you uninformed idiots take this.
Go do your home work and learn the truth.
Even with the bad ignitions the car stalling is not an instant death. The circumstances that contributed to many of these cases took a inconvenient issue and turned it deadly. The steering did not lock and the car was still steerable. The brakes still had power assist enough to stop. and generally anyone who is not impaired or an idiot shift to neutral and restarts the car.
Should GM be responsible for the ignition yes but those drivers who too the lack of action to make use of safety devices, speed and or drive while impaired should also share in the actions that lead to their deaths.
All you panty waste people complaining about GM only are just enriching the lawyers at our expense when we buy a car no matter the MFG.
One wrong is bad and two are even worse and then to have someone to support either party totally is a fool.
The 20008 Malibus are already out? And you’re still defending the auto maker that knowingly sold cars that can shut off while doing 75, disabling power steering, brakes, air bags, all at the same time. Great!
Ford and Toyota had bigger issues?? How about the minor issue of financial sustainability? Enough people kept buying F150s and Camrys. At least those companies didn’t get a socialist bailout for building junk.
You’re spending a lot of time on this website again, is your Canyon in the shop for that seat recall?
Speaking of Malibus, Scott3, I want to drive that model that backfires in front of a Cleveland police station and the cops shoot ol’ unarmed me and my passenger 137 times because they mistook backfire for gunfire.
One way or another, Chevys figure
out a way to kill you – don’t have to wait until 20008. Don’t hafta be drunk or unbelted. Just buy a Chevy and the s**t eventually hits the fan.
And, I believe Mary Barra was Roger Smith’s PA when those crappy cars were made – so her ‘career path’ doesn’t exactly scream ‘quality’.
Bean counter, lifer, head of engineering when the switches were made, right hand man was son of president who got ‘demoted’ –
It’s kinda like the Lions – better than they were, but not even a playoff team in a weak division (save for GB).
Prove it!
Prove it?
Well, it’s a matter of public record, if you believe what u read in books and newspapers and blogs.
And I’m not sure how the DOJ can arrive at a figure before finishing their depositions – I will say GM has done a masterful job at getting out in front of this, hiring their own prosecutor/investigator, etc.
But I’m tired of this bad karma path. Bad for the soul. So we agree to disagree, on some stuff at least, and move on, yes? I’m glad to see better product. I’m happy to see job creation.
Have a good Holiday weekend.
Prove just who all knew and when they knew.
DOJ and everyone else have no idea as well as many inside GM.
Cut the Karma BS as in the end GM will get a big fine from the government and no one will see jail. The media is already moving on to the next if it bleeds it leads story prompted on my the legal lobby.
The bottom line is I really believe only a handful of people inside GM knew and the fact is many of them are already gone and many you think should have known really did not know. Their house was really that messed up there.
In the end you, I and any legal entity can not prove anything beyond a shadow of a doubt so the government will fine with an agreed statement announce it. That is what has happened before with other automakers and will happen again here.
The bottom line is there was no intent to kill anyone and with the contributing factors it clouds the situation. GM like Ford and Toyota and many others are just willing to settle than fight this as they will lose the PR war even if they were 100% correct here. The cost of the battle would also exceed any pay out and by the time they were done the media would chew them up no matter if they were right or wrong.
The public as a whole anymore do not want themselves to be held accountable and they also just read the headlines and not learn all the details. So at this point the media holds a lot of power and is often controlled by those with agendas. MFG anymore just have to pay the blackmail and go on.
It is sad but too often all people know is what they are told and too often they are not told all the details. I am sure the American public as a whole would think differently if they knew the condisitons that most of these deaths were under. While I would never absolve GM of all of this I do feel those who did not make use of good judgment and seat belts should be also held accountable for their part in their deaths as too often they would have been alive if they did as they should have done.
I am good with respectfully agree to disagree with you.
GM stuffed up big time with quality and other cultural issues. At least the new GM is sorting the previous parlous state of affairs. I did read Read the Book Bean Counters Vs. Car Guys, it was a fascinating insight into poor coporate governance and a change resistant mentality.
But GM has turned the corner and the future looks very bright. I’m with you Scott3, but Magruis you need to get a life! All you seem to do is troll through this website and criticise. Some occasional positive feedback/input would be nice, if not keep your cardigan on and stay with the Toyota websites.
As Bob Lutz said in the book there were people that were the problem and that there were people that were not the problem. Today they have folks who are not the problem gaining control.
GM had some decades of major issues covered up buy good and bad sales. Things have changed and will continue to improve. To be honest this thing will make them better than they would have been with out it.
The Lutz book is only part of the story and all GM fans need to read it and even the Trolls should just to make sure they get their facts right.